THE CONVERSATION

By Carl Sandburg

I spot the hills

With yellow balls in autumn.

I light the prairie cornfields

Orange and tawny gold clusters

And I am called pumpkins.

On the last of October

When dusk is fallen

Children join hands

And circle round me

Singing ghost songs

And love to the harvest moon;

I am a jack-o’-lantern

With terrible teeth

And the children know

I am fooling.

This poem was originally published in 1916 by Carl Sandburg (1878-1967). It is now in the public domain. For an analysis of this poem, see here. For information on the Carl Sandburg Home National Historic Site, see here.